Skoda Fabia not responding to Ignition

[kapursaket]

Seek advice from fellow BHPians having SKODA FABIA 1.4 TDI(PD) Elegance, on facing following issue.

Car Background.

1)Purchased from Fahrenheit Automobiles New Delhi on 23/05/2010.
2)Two Free Services completed and the running on the Car is approximately 14000Kms only.
3)Trouble free ride all this while.

Problem Background.

1)Last week 8th August when retired cranking the Car to adjust the vehicle into the Parking Slot, it went blank.
2)All indicators were Normal, Light Horn working fine but absolutely mute on turning the ignition to start.
3)Called SKODA Dealership, was advised to try jump start and if it works change Battery as it is little over two years old.
4)Jump Start worked, so replaced the Battery from stock VRATA 61amp to Bosch 65amp.
5)Worked fine for two days and on evening of 11th August again the ingnition was mute.
6)Waited till next day and now tried ignition with the duplicate key and it worked.
7)Evening of Sunday 12th August while returning again the ignition went mute with the duplicate key too and luckily started after frantic switch on and off and closing and opening the front doors.
8)Checked with Jai Auto Mathura Road and they also appear to be on a trial and error trip.

In light of above please suggest probable cause of this issue which has made my Car vegetable.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by kapursaket

Seek advice from fellow BHPians having SKODA FABIA 1.4 TDI(PD) Elegance, on facing following issue.

Car Background.

1)Purchased from Fahrenheit Automobiles New Delhi on 23/05/2010.
2)Two Free Services completed and the running on the Car is approximately 14000Kms only.
3)Trouble free ride all this while.

Problem Background.

1)Last week 8th August when retired cranking the Car to adjust the vehicle into the Parking Slot, it went blank.
2)All indicators were Normal, Light Horn working fine but absolutely mute on turning the ignition to start.
3)Called SKODA Dealership, was advised to try jump start and if it works change Battery as it is little over two years old.
4)Jump Start worked, so replaced the Battery from stock VRATA 61amp to Bosch 65amp.
5)Worked fine for two days and on evening of 11th August again the ingnition was mute.
6)Waited till next day and now tried ignition with the duplicate key and it worked.
7)Evening of Sunday 12th August while returning again the ignition went mute with the duplicate key too and luckily started after frantic switch on and off and closing and opening the front doors.
8)Checked with Jai Auto Mathura Road and they also appear to be on a trial and error trip.

In light of above please suggest probable cause of this issue which has made my Car vegetable.

May be something as simple as a starter motor wiring loose contact. Get it checked ASAP. Does it have an immobiliser with a coded key? If yes, then that may also be the problem. But I would start with basics like the starter motor.

[kapursaket]

Yes it has the immobiliser and the corresponding key on the instrument cluster appears and dissapears in 5secs. I suspect issue with a relay/solenoid based contact which is actuating the Self motor.

[nim_peter]

Looks like your battery is not charging up properly. If jump start works, then I don't think there is any problem with starter motor, wiring or immobilizer, I maybe wrong too. Checking the charge in the battery will rule that out. We can then look at other angles.

[ECM]

I wonder why dealer used jump start in your car!! In such cases there are all chances that ECU get damaged OR go absolute dead.

[mercedised]

The same issue happened with me too, the problem was found tobe loose immobiliser connector. Get the immobiliser connector cleaned and tightened. I don;t know if Fabia comes with a separate immobiliser unit or not.

[yogeshnagpal]

Did you get the old battery checked before replacing it ? i.e the charge levels and the voltage levels on the multimeter ?

In the event that you doubt the battery, always ensure that you get the voltage levels checked using a multimeter. If the battery shows signs of weakness (i.e the voltage drops to around 6V - 7V) during ignition, then you can conclude that somethings wrong with the battery.

In normal circumstances, during ignition the battery voltage goes down to approx 9V.


I would suggest get the starter motor checked and also the fuse box.


Thanks,
Yogesh

[ragzv]

The OEM battery in my Fabia 1.4 PD TDI was 70 or 72amps (cant exactly remember) and was replaced with a 74amp SF (DIN74) battery. Please check the required battery capacity properly.

[rajcs]

Originally Posted by kapursaket

1)Last week 8th August when retired cranking the Car to adjust the vehicle into the Parking Slot, it went blank.
2)All indicators were Normal, Light Horn working fine but absolutely mute on turning the ignition to start.


In light of above please suggest probable cause of this issue which has made my Car vegetable.

Had a similar experience last monsoon in my Fabia 1.6. Pulled out the ignition fuse (#30 in my car) and inserted it back. The ignition was normal immediately and never had a problem again. May have been a loose sitting fuse.

[kapursaket]

Already tried but to no avail. Jai auto also appears perplexed over the issue ... Already one day of investigation over

[kapursaket]

Second Day at Dealership and no briefing of fault finding. This silence is eerie.

[kapursaket]

Total goofup at the Service Center. All information being passed was of other Fabia having same last four digits as registeration number. But yes all well that ends well with a Service charge of INR616.00

Problem was snapping of the wire to the Starter Motor relay and this wire it seems snapped owing to have gone loose because of Diesel Engine Vibration and was skinning the Radiator Fan.

[swarnava.m]

Originally Posted by ECM

I wonder why dealer used jump start in your car!! In such cases there are all chances that ECU get damaged OR go absolute dead.

I think what you are referring to is PUSH START, where the car is put into motion by pushing and then started by slotting it into gear, so it starts with a jerk.

@Kapursaket is referring to JUMP START, which is done using jump cables, and is pretty safe.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by kapursaket

Problem was snapping of the wire to the Starter Motor relay and this wire it seems snapped owing to have gone loose because of Diesel Engine Vibration and was skinning the Radiator Fan.

Can you please explain how the last 4 digits of a registration number cause this confusion?

[kapursaket]

The last four digits 2782 of the registration plate were same while the initial were different